I gots me some butterflies churnin’! Quentin asked to borrow a RED STATE print for this weekend. He’s gotta like it, right? It’s got Parks!

Today, Kevin reveals the events of that day, and it’s a fantastic story that you’ve just got to experience in full on the blog, but here’s a taste:

‘I’ve already watched Red State,’ he chuckled. ‘I watched it Friday night. By myself.’

At which point everything in me went away but the filmmaker and I asked that all-important question:

‘Did you dig it?’

‘I loved it! That’s why I’m’

I didn’t let him finish. I just hugged him as hard as I could.

You see, Quentin’s was the only review that was ever gonna matter. Red State was inspired by the man’s work, his casting choices, his daring Pulp Fiction-tonal shifts. I’ve told the audiences at every stop on the Red State USA Tour ‘I didn’t want to make a Kevin Smith movie this time. This time, I wanted to make a movie that was Quentin Tarantino by way of the Coen Brothers.’ And to have Quentin not only watch the flick, but also dig it enough to watch it again in the span of 24 hours?

That’s graduation day, folks. Ain’t no reason for me to continue in this business past Hit Somebody because I scored the respect of a Grand Master.

He said it stands beside Chasing Amy as his favorite of mine, and then said ‘Your words coming out of Parks was perfect.’ He loved that he never knew where it was going. He just plain loved it, which was all that’d ever matter to the guy who made the film, who often pondered ‘What would Quentin do?’ before executing a shot, an edit, a keystroke or even before eating lunch on set.

‘Well we really don’t have to watch it again now’ I started to say.

‘No, I wanna watch it again,’ he countered. ‘And I wanna show Rhia.’

Quentin’s friend nodded, offering ‘He’s been talking about it all day.’

We love this story — Notice how despite having a time set to watch it, Quentin got a hold of the print and watched it RIGHT away — And then watched it through a SECOND time mere hours later. Not only an endorsement by words, but actions as well. Not only did he LOVE it, but he talked about it, thought about it…And wanted to watch it again. That’s the highest compliment you can give a flick, really.

Kevin’s blog entry telegraphs his love of all things Tarantino right back to the “Clerks” beginnings, and even includes some classic photos and links from over the years. The background makes the story from this weekend’s “Red State” screening with Quentin even more poignant, as Kevin prepares to retire from filmmaking. Much like Kevin, Tarantino has also set a definitive end to his film career — Though he’s yet to announce how many more films he’ll be making, he’s always said that he’ll retire from the directing biz early.

Tarantino is set to appear as the first guest of “SMoviemakers” at the Lovitz, and the thought of that is so cool, we want to start shopping plane tickets. Truly, a can’t-miss event. Read the entire blog entry, “QT and Me”, at the Red Statements site.